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Archive for the 'Raspberry Pi' Category

I’ve been using Raspberry Pi computers for several years. A few months ago the Raspberry Pi B I had hooked up to my TV and running OpenElec, stopped working. The Pi was locked up and then wouldn’t reboot when I pulled the power cord.

It’s an original B model, with just two USB ports, so I didn’t think much of it. I prepped and put in place a replacement Pi, also running OpenElec, and threw the Pi into a drawer for further inspection..later. I got 4 years faithful service from a $35 computer so I wasn’t complaining.

Some weeks later, I had an idea that I wanted to use a Raspberry Pi for so I grabbed the questionable unit and got to work.

My standard way to prep a Pi is to use raspbian-ua-netinst (https://github.com/debian-pi/raspbian-ua-netinst/). It doesn’t require a huge download, and it doesn’t automatically install a GUI and a bunch of software I don’t want. Read more...(650 words, estimated 2:36 mins reading time)

Having read countless accounts online from people who have taken various lapdocks and paired them with a Raspberry Pi, I thought I would give it a try myself.

I went to Ebay and purchased a Motorola Lapdock 100. It’s a small unit with a cable that comes out that back. This cable has a header with a Micro-USB and Micro-HDMI connector on it. General wisdom seems to be buying series of adapters and cables and then sort of whittling them down until they fit. I dutifully bought the necessary bits but when the Lapdock arrived it seemed much easier to just take apart that cable header instead.

What I discovered is that inside that header is simply the two cables held in place with some soft plastic. Having removed the plastic and cutting back the cable, I have two loose cables that I can use freely.

With the addition of two adapters to bring the two micro connectors up to full size, which the Raspberry Pi needs, I was off and running. Read more...(979 words, 3 images, estimated 3:55 mins reading time)